I’ve been camping with little Caroline’s first grade class for the last 24 hours or so. What a fun time! Yesterday the kids rotated through crafts and activities and then finished the evening with dinner, skits and smores. Then this morning I brewed at least a half dozen French presses of coffee (I like to take this one camping), while the kids drank hot chocolate. After more crafts and a bit of packing up, here I am back at work. Well actually I went home and took a shower first. Inevitably if I come to work in grubby clothes, thinking I can hide in the office, I get called out front multiple times. Murphy’s law. Thus the trip home to change.

Please forgive me if this newsletter is rambling. I had a wonderful time, but I did not get much sleep. Luckily this week’s coffee has lots of interesting characteristics to share. First of all, it included on the bag a link to www.trackyourcoffee.com. I’ve never seen this website before, but it’s a great concept. If you would like to track this Mexican, the code on the burlap is 016-2729–001-X-LAA-SS2. I know it’s long, but if you cut and paste it, you can learn more about exactly where the coffee originated.

I’ve also got a great link for you to learn more about this Terruno Nayarita. If you click here, you will learn that the word “terruno” means my land, or homestead. This coffee comes from the state of Nayarit, on the western coast of Mexico. Nayarit is just north of the popular resort destination of Puerta Vallarta, which some of you may have visited. Coffee, however, is grown far inland, at a much higher elevation than the coastal playas. This coffee was grown on the slopes of the now extinct Cerro San Juan volcano, an ashy soil that coffee plants love.

When Trace roasted this earlier in the week, we all commented on how warm and toasty the aroma smelled. It seemed like a perfect fit for a cool fall morning, of the sort that we have been having around here. I would definitely recommend it if you have any plans to go camping in the next month. The taste is nutty like roasted hazelnuts, with a sweet, almost chocolate-y, finish. The beans are labelled SHG, strictly high grown, which is evidenced in the consistency of the roast. It’s a beautiful coffee.

Next week I will be gone for three days camping with my son’s class, and I will be bringing some of this Mexican along. I might even sneak in a few chocolate bars from Cello Chocolates–it would be a perfect early morning match. As the month of October begins, I hope that you are all enjoying good coffee on these cool mornings*. That is our code for a free cup of this Mexican this week. Enjoy!
–Holly Fike